The Moon in the Dark

Long ago, the Monsters and Humans fought a great war. The Monsters lost, and were sealed in the Underground. It would take the power of seven human souls to break the barrier that kept them imprisoned. They only had six. And so the Monsters waited and hoped, praying that another human would find their way to the Underground. Some thought the seventh soul would give their King the strength to break the barrier. Some dreamed of a human who would be their friend, and save them all...or had nightmares of one who would bring back the war....but nobody came....but somepony did.Eons after the war, with no way to tell how much time had passed above, a tiny blue filly with wings and horn fell into the underground, calling for her Mama. None knew the poor creature's nature or origins...but her soul was powerful with magic, even more so than a human soul.None can know what will come...of this little 'Woona'.http://www.fimfiction.net/story/303673/the-moon-in-the-dark

65. The Reunion

As Asgore, Toriel, and the others gathered around Woona, she slowly came around. "I hurt all over..." she groaned to herself.

Not surprising, Sans replied, speaking straight into her mind. Resetting was never meant to be pleasant.

"DO NOT WORRY, WOONA!" Papyrus proclaimed eagerly. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL TEND TO YOU IN YOUR INFIRMITY UNTIL YOU ARE AS STRONG AS ME! NYEHEHEH!"

"Why don't you leave that to someone who actually knows something about medicine, Paps?" Undyne countered playfully. "Pretty sure Woona doesn't need to be cocooned in bandages until she looks like a mummy! For one thing, the mummies might find it offensive!"

"AND I AM MOST CERTAIN THAT SHE IS NOT DURABLE ENOUGH FOR YOUR TOUGH LOVE APPROACH TO MEDICINE INVOLVING EXCESSIVE CALISTHENICS AND WEIGHT LIFTING TO 'WALK IT OFF'!" Papyrus countered.

As Toriel and Asgore knelt on either side of the tiny pony, the others chorused assent, determining that was probably the best approach to the situation. Woona smiled up at them. "So...it's all over?" she asked hopefully. "The barrier's broken?"

Everyone around her nodded. "Yes, my child," Toriel confirmed. "The Barrier is broken. The Sages who powered it will trouble us no more."

The way Toriel said that made Woona's eyes open wide. "What...what happened to them?" she asked sorrowfully.

Under that innocent, hopeful gaze, each of them found themselves turning away. Papyrus looked down in shame. Undyne glanced away, spitting to the ground. Muffet closed her eyes, unwilling to look away or meet that gaze. Toriel looked to the sky for inspiration of how to handle this. Asgore sank in on himself in despair, more blood on his hands, however necessary. Alphys shivered violently as the reality of what she'd done finally hit home, now that the intensity of battle had faded, stripping the veil of 'awesome' from her eyes. Mettaton didn't seem to react, but his box form didn't show expressions anyway.

"don't worry about them, squirt," Sans said calmly. "they'll be just fine, eventually. what's left of them...has a journey of their own to take. who knows? you might meet them again someday, and not on opposite sides."

"Woona!" a familiar piping voice called out, drawing every gaze towards the tunnel to the surface. A small goat boy in a green and white striped shirt raced in, rushing to Woona's side. "Woona, are you alright?"

"As...?" Woona began, still feeling exhausted.

Asgore and Toriel both looked like they'd seen...well, Woona started to think 'ghost' until she remembered Napstablook. Then she thought 'the dead walk', but then she saw Sans and Papyrus right there. ...she really didn't know how Monsters would describe it when they saw something that left them so stupefied. Maybe 'like they just saw a pony'? They all seemed pretty surprised when they first saw her after all...

"A...Asriel?" Toriel gasped out, tears in her eyes.

"Is...is it really you, son?" Asgore gasped out.

Asriel looked up, shocked as he felt tears in his own eyes. "M-Mom? D-Dad?" His hands went to his face, and he stared at his hands. "Hands...tears...I...I'm me again? H...how?" Before he could say more, Asgore and Toriel had enfolded him in a loving embrace.

"kid, trust me, don't look a gift horse in the mouth here," Sans suggested as everyone's eyes misted up. "she hasn't brushed her teeth in weeks." This resulted in a chorus of giggles, groans, and a blown raspberry from Woona.

"An oddly appropriate thing to say," another familiar voice said as Chara stepped out from a nearby field of golden flowers that hadn't been there a moment ago, his footsteps sounding on the ground as the Heart Locket shimmered around his neck. "After all, that's the explanation."

"C-Chara?" Asriel gasped out. "You're...alive?"

"In the flesh once again," Chara replied softly. As this statement resulted in three incredibly tight embraces and waves of tears, he gasped out, "That also means I need to breathe again!"

Sans burst into laughter as the King, Queen, and little Prince pulled back in embarrassment. "and here i thought you didn't like bad jokes."

Smiling softly, Chara opened the Heart Locket. In one side, there was a picture of Chara and Asriel happily holding Woona up to the camera, smiles on all three faces. Inscribed under it in gold was, 'BBBFFs'. The other half of the locket was outlined in red, Chara's human soul. However, only a quarter of it was filled in with dark blue, the rest filled with pale fog. "I'm alive again because...I have a quarter of Woona's soul, roughly equivalent to the power of a human soul."

"the same with the kid," Sans spoke up as he snapped his fingers, his eye flaring blue as Asriel's soul became highlighted, a white outline with a sliver of blue, the rest with the same mist as Chara's. "it's why i said 'gift horse'." Turning, he illuminated Woona's soul. Approximately 26% of it was missing, the gap filled in with shadows. "all three of you will fill in the missing portions over time as your souls recover...but the scars of what you'd done, and what had been done to you, will remain."

"We shall deal with that another day," Asgore spoke up, as he and Toriel gathered their children into their arms. Toriel held Asriel, Asgore held Chara, and the two brothers carried Woona between them, forcing their parents to stand close together. "For now, the barrier is no more...and it is time for our people to return to the surface, and meet with Woona's people. Mettaton, please broadcast the word to all of the Underground: